shah82 wrote:My god, man, those are the dregs. Well, the Dayi and Xiaguan aren't, but they aren't really ready to drink for a few years, and still rather plebian anyways.

There is a point to puerh, it just costs lots of money today.

+1 on the not ready to drink yet. Most sheng I would say at least 5 years before drinking. Shou first year blah second year maybe , third year give a go. These are just my personal preferences though and every one must find their own "sweet spot". I almost gave up on sheng until I had a proper aged one. I bought some a year old and said never again till someone encouraged me to try something older.

It can be sensible to give up on Pu. I have a few small packs that were gifts & a little as part of barters, but I am too ignorant & poor to buy Pu-erh. I am also not buying Japanese green tea which is relatively expensive (not just due to price but also due to the amount of tea I waste w/ bad preparation).

I have started to appreciate young raw puerh in the last couple of years or so. I like the quick Qi punch they give, straight to business, not mucking around for 15 rounds to find out how good the tea is.

Tea is not really expensive. Let say a very good Puer cake of 375gm cost $1000. You use around 3 gms every session which cost $8 per session. A good tea can last say 10 brews on 100ml pot. Normally it is even more. Let say you can get a few good brews of a total of 1 liter. So it just cost $8 per liter.

Well, most of the reasonable tea cost around $100-200 so eventually you are just paying aroun $1 to $2 per lite. Just compare them with other beverages price. It is good to look for quality and pay a bit more, even a $1000 piece only cost you $8 per liter.

So, if it is solely base on price consideration, how cheap do we want it to be, in order not to abandon tea?

Can I get a few specific suggestions, preferably that I can get samples from Dragon Tea House since I have to put in an order for other stuff anyways? So I know what I should be going for.

kyarazen wrote:could you describe that base flavour that you dont like?

It's a really earthy flavor and almost smokey. Though on a note I just brewed some silver needles that i've had sitting around for the past 4 years just for giggles and I'm getting a faint trace of those flavors.

My favorite pus to share with people new to them are shus, because the shengs (young and some old) can be tricky to get right--their sweetness and earthiness can quickly turn unpleasant if overly concentrated (to my taste, at least) or if allowed to sit too long before drinking. The shus are more flexible. But I can't give advice on specific sources/harvests currently available because I haven't bought any recently, and the ones I have are no longer available or have gotten pricier, like a classic Golden Needle White Lotus from Yunnan Sourcing.

I've also had little luck with pu though I've not shopped for it much as there are so many other teas to love. It surprises me, because I generally really enjoy complex, 'earthy' tastes that offput others, like very intense and ripe cheeses. I've mentioned that my first (and almost last) taste of pu was years ago, with a friend, and truly... intense. It was the taste of mucking ripe stables (funny, I deeply love that smell in barns) along with something just rotten sewerish and something else like clothes mouldering in an attic. No idea what sort of pu it was. Pleasant buzz, though, which my friend, not a tea person really, thought the entire point. Those were the days.

I'd also love some specific suggestions (sample sizes, not whole cakes) that don't break the bank or require large quantity purchases; always game. Between warnings that the decent stuff is terribly difficult to find and wildly expensive and the level of experience apparently required to select among the many available products, I've tended to just shy away. I think it perhaps needs a bit of demystification, like yixing pots. Anyone able to provide a little list?

Last edited by kikula on Jan 16th, '14, 00:28, edited 1 time in total.

kikula wrote:I'd also love some specific suggestions (sample sizes, not whole cakes) that don't break the bank or require large quantity purchases; always game. Between warnings that the decent stuff is terribly difficult to find and wildly expensive and the level of experience apparently required to select among the many available products, I've tended to just shy away. I think it perhaps needs a bit of demystification, like yixing pots. Anyone able to provide a little list?

If you want to save a lot of time searching for good, drinkable, puerh that will turn your head in the right direction, then order samples from Tea Urchin. They carry quality teas. This will allow you to experience what the attraction to Puerh is all about. It is a start at the right place. Begin with young tea and get to know what it's taste and aroma are all about. Then you can compare to older teas, both intermediate and fully aged to see what the fermentation process does over time. Young puerh is tasty and refreshing but you have to start with quality or else you run into the garbage and your enthusiasm for the tea diminishes. It took me years to understand that most puerh is crap and undrinkable. Stop wasting your time and money and get the good stuff.

Tead Off wrote: Begin with young tea and get to know what it's taste and aroma are all about. Then you can compare to older teas, both intermediate and fully aged to see what the fermentation process does over time. Young puerh is tasty and refreshing but you have to start with quality or else you run into the garbage and your enthusiasm for the tea diminishes. It took me years to understand that most puerh is crap and undrinkable. Stop wasting your time and money and get the good stuff.

thats really true.. and i had the same experience as well..

in my early collections, some were salvageable, some were just plain rubbish.